Colours
by HoneyedWords
Summary: TomxLuna AU Time travel story. Rated M just in case. Luna sees beauty where others see nothing. What will she see when she meets Tom Riddle, after a time-travel incident?
1. White

**Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at a real fanfiction so please be understanding. Moreover, English is not my native language so please be even more understanding XD However, you're welcome to tell me any mistake I might have done. I hope you will enjoy this :) Sorry for the crappy spell. Can't rhyme in English T_T  
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**Disclaimer : Almost everything here belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
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**Chapter 1 : Colours  
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Colours. A myriad of them. Flashes of red, blue, purple and mostly green. That was all Luna Lovegood could focus on, the first time she was in a battle and it almost got her killed.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?"

"Look at the colours. Is someone trying to make a rainbow? It's beautiful," she said merrily, while she started producing yellow and orange lights with her wand, dancing.

"_Stop that_," Ginny Weasley hissed. "The Death Eaters are going to notice us!"

The face of the dreamy Ravenclaw fell. She remembered there actually was a meaning behind the bright colours. She also remembered that especially the green light had a tremendous meaning. She wondered why Avada Kedavra came with a green light. She gazed at the colours one last time before finally joining in the fight.

With time, though, she little by little stopped contemplating lights and stars – and all those things which she was the only one able to see the beauty – while she was supposed to fight Death Eaters, but often couldn't help a glance. Therefore she had won a couple of little scars and was currently trying to prove Severus Snape that they had a huge importance in the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, 12, Grimmauld Place, where they all lived together.

"Stop wasting my time, Miss Lovegood."

"But the Wrackspurt shape of my scar must have some significance! And I'm sure others have very specific scar shapes themselves so I think we should study them," she pleaded.

"For the umpteenth time, Wrackspurts don't exist. Furthermore – and I'm most definitely _not_ admitting their existence – aren't Wrackspurts supposed to be invisible? How can you tell their shape?" he snapped, aggravated. It must have been the twentieth time that Luna had tried to force some of her ridiculous theories down his throat, and he was sick of it.

"They do exist," started Luna with an uncharacteristic coldness. "It is possible to see them with spectrespecs, thus several sketches of them are available. I can call my Dad if you don't believe me."

Upon hearing her words, Snape shot her a puzzled look, his annoyance gone. He shook his head disbelievingly and left the room, leaving Luna alone. She didn't mind at all, since she was used to being lonely and rather liked it, as a matter of fact. She sat on a soft armchair, pulled out an old copy of the Quibbler and started reading it.

Eve if she missed Hogwarts, which was now under the thumb of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, she appreciated her life in the Headquarters of the Order. She could see her friends everyday : Harry, Ginny, Neville, Ron – even though he sometimes jeered at her – and Hermione and her desperately narrow mind.

Of course, she dreaded opening the Daily Prophet, her heart beating faster than usual at the idea of discovering someone she knew was dead, but she was not alone and that was all that mattered. Nonetheless, she missed the heated debates in the Ravenclaw common room – not that she participated, she just liked listening people arguing – and the classes. She felt like her brain was rotting. Or melting. Well, something, anyway. She'd have to think about that.

_Slam._

She violently jumped as a book fell heavily on the table she was sleeping. She adjusted her twig headband and looked up with her big eyes at her former Potions professor who was standing in front of her, looking bored.

"This is your new mission," he said.

"Oh, thank you, that's very nice of you to trust me with something of importance, Professor Snape," she answered with a delighted smile. "What am I supposed to do with this book?"

"We believe one of the spells of this book might help us to bring You-Know-Who down – alas, none of the spells seem to work with us. Since your mother was a famous researcher, I – _we_ thought that you might be able to work something out with it."

Her eyes sparkled at the praise of her mother.

"I'll do my best, Professor," she told him as he left with a brief nod.

They _trusted_ her! She couldn't believe it. They gave her a mission, they trusted her with something of importance. They acknowledged her worth. She suddenly felt appreciated, loved even. She gave herself a minute of bliss.

Then, she skipped up her chair and eagerly started studying the book. It was a black book entitled _Book of Shadows_ with its pages yellowed by age. Or tea. It was a grimoire where hundreds of spells, potions and charms were written. Strangely enough, some spells seemed to aim at the destruction of creatures she had never heard of. That was odd. That was odd for _Luna Lovegood_, for Merlin's sake.

"I'm currently studying this book for Professor Snape, he believes it contains a spell that might be able to help us in destroying You-Know-Who. But the incantations are unusual – they're written in plain English. And they _rhyme_! It's amazing. Maybe this is the solution. Maybe this new form of spell casting will open new horizons of magic to us."

Luna Lovegood had been talking excitedly _at_ Hermione for half an hour, failing to notice her yet blatant bored expression, but upon hearing this, the young Gryffindor's curiosity was piqued. Not only because she was babbling about a book, but rather because that kind of incantations sounded awfully like... No.

"What book?"

The young Ravenclaw looked a bit taken aback for a second, because Hermione hadn't shown any sign of interest before, but she showed her the book nonetheless.

"He did not. Yes, he did, that snivelling...," mumbled Hermione. "Uh, excuse me, I just remembered I had something to do."

"Oh, it's okay, we'll talk later," said Luna, but she had already left.

But it was okay, she had something to do, too. She wanted to test one of the spells of the book. She hopped to her room that already prepared for the ritual, the Book of Shadows under her arm.

"_You're making her study a Muggle book!_"

To say that Severus Snape was annoyed was a crude understatement. He certainly did not care for an annoying Gryffindor know-it-all to yell at him. And she even had the nerve to point her finger accusingly at him. If they were alone, he would curse her into oblivion – alas, they weren't. He also had to bear the presence of Dumbledore, this old fool, who was calmly gazing at them. He let Hermione Granger continue her rant until she became red and had to pause unless she had the desire to die of asphyxia. Something Severus wouldn't mind at all. Maybe he could have helped her.

"Are you quite finished, Miss Granger?" asked Snape impatiently.

"I'm most..."

"Shut up, Miss Granger. I don't have to justify my actions to you, but it seems I will have to if I don't want to endure your presence any longer. The girl was simply insufferable, babbling all day long about her Wrackslurps. I was tired of her wasting my time and now, she has an occupation, like all of us."

"It's a Muggle book, for Heaven's sake, Headmaster. And it's not even a serious one, it's merchandising from a stupid T.V. show. I'm sure she's intelligent, I mean, she was in Ravenclaw. There must be something she could do, you just haven't yet taken the time to find what."

Severus was about to retort when Dumbledore finally spoke :

"Though Severus' intentions weren't really appropriate, I think we should actually give Miss Lovegood a chance. Who knows what she might find in this... what was it? Book of Shadows."

Everything was in place. Candles were lit all around her, exhaling an intoxicating smell and she had drawn a pentacle on a wall. She was ready.

"_Send me back to a better time_,  
><em>Heart, body and mind,<em>" Luna chanted.

And two things happened at the same time. On the one hand, Severus Snape and Hermione Granger entered her room, followed closely by Albus Dumbledore. On the other hand, the pentacle was no more. In_ lieu_, there was a blue shimmering portal that produced a surprisingly cliché buzzing sound. The wind rose and Luna's blonde hair went completely over her face. She turned to them nonetheless, glee and surprise shaking her voice :

"It's working! I did it, Professor Snape! I'm going in. See you!"

And in she went. The portal immediately closed, the wind fell and the candles blew out.

It was Hermione Granger who broke the deafening silence in a very uncharacteristic manner :

"You've got to be kidding me."


	2. Rainbows

**Hello everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I hope you'll like this chapter as well. I know you'll be disappointed that Tom hasn't showed up yet, but trust me, it's coming! I'm trying to write as much as I can before the Nanowrimo starts, so I can keep on updating regularly :D Enjoy and review, whether you liked it or not and don't hesitate to report me my mistakes =)  
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**Chapter 2 : Rainbows**

"Um.. Maybe it didn't work."

Luna Lovegood was a bit disappointed. The portal hadn't taken her that far, apparently : she was outside, in front of 12, square Grimmauld. She sighed ; all the dramatic effect of the blue mysterious magic portal was gone out the window if it only led her outside the manor. Shrugging, she stepped forward and very naturally - and politely, just for the record - knocked at the door.

"Who the hell are you?" shouted a husky voice, muffled by the door, but still shockingly loud. The door opened to reveal a surprisingly short woman, considering the decibel her voice had just reached.

"Luna Lovegood, madam. And who are you? I've lived here for quite a while and I have never seen you before. But it's okay, I like making new acquaintances."

"_Lived here for quite a while_ she says!", repeated the woman with an outraged scoff, "My family and I have lived here for centuries, and I've never seen you before in my life. Now go away before I curse your head off.", she said, as she slammed the door in Luna's face.

"I didn't know such rude people lived in the manor, now," she commented as she realised that she needed to move.

She could be found by a Death Eater any time, and, if yes, the weather would be excellent for a nice stroll in Hyde Park barefooted, she didn't want to risk being captured and die stupidly when she still had to do all that research in the _Book of Shadows_. Which was still at Square Grimmauld! There wasn't much she could do except find a library to get another copy of that book.

She Apparated away to a magical bookshop in London. She wondered what the Muggles could see, in its stead, She entered the bookshop. The place had a very outdated decoration, she immediately noticed, but liked the homey feel of it. She felt as if she was visiting a loving grandmother's house. She spotted the shopkeeper, an early thirty-year old man with thick glasses and prematurely grey hair and marched up to him.

"Hello, sir, could you help me find a book called _The Book of Shadows_, please?"

The owner frowned. "I do not recall having such a book here, what is it about?".

Luna described him the book, but he didn't seem to have heard of it. However, he proposed to write her the address of another bookshop that was specialized in strange books, like this "_enchanting rhymed spells_ _grimoire_" appeared him to be. He tore a tiny piece of the Daily Prophet to write it on, when Luna noticed something odd on the newspaper.

"1943."

"Miss?"

"We're in _1943? We're the 23rd of August in 1943?_"

The shopkeeper stared at her, stepping back, visibly suspicious.

"Um, yes, of course we are, Miss."

He had just the time to back away answer before Luna started jumping up and down, with squeaks of joy.

"I did it! I made it! I made the spell work!"

When she finally calmed herself down, the shopkeeper having fled in the storage room, she left, stopped at a café, ordered a cup of tea and started thinking. She was in _1943_. No war. No deaths. No battles. No You-Know-Who. But none of her friends. She bit her lip. She couldn't leave Hermione, Harry or Ron… Even professor Snape who counted on her to decipher the mysteries of the _Book of Shadows_! She had to go back. But how? She should try to contact someone she could trust. Dumbledore was probably alive, she should try to reach out to him so that he could help her going back. She kept on elaborating her plan while sipping her tea.

She went back to see the bookshop owner.

"Excuse me, sir?", she asked as he jumped.

"Oh, it's you again. What is it?"

"Would you be willing to hire me, please sir? I would do anything."

"You won't be paid much, I'm afraid. And you're quite noisy. Bookshops are quiet places. You have to respect the books," he said with a frown.

"I know, sir, I'm sorry about earlier. It's such a magical day."

"Uhuh. Well, maybe you could do the inventory for me. I hate that. Come back tomorrow morning and prepare yourself for a titanesque task. I am Maximilian Colbourne. "

"Thank you, sir. See you tomorrow."

She smiled, waved at him and skipped out of the store. Now, she needed to find a hotel room. She Apparated to the Diagon Alley, booked the cheapest room of the Leaky Cauldron and installed herself in her room. That was quite hyperbolic, actually, since she had no clothes or possessions to move into her room, so she simply put a vase of white and purple violets on the table of her room to make it feel more alive. She went down, asked Tom, the Leaky Cauldron bartender, for a quill and paper and sent an owl to Dumbledore, asking him very politely if he could meet her as soon as possible at the Leaky Cauldron. She happily sighed, went back to her room and slept until the next day.

When she arrived at the bookshop, the shopkeeper once again jumped but still greeted her nicely.

"It's quite a simple job, you'll see, Luna. You just take the books, write their references on the list and rearrange them if they're out of place."

"Very well, sir."

The first day, Luna simply did as she had been told.

By the end of the week, the bookshop was unrecognisable. The dusty shelves of stacked books put in alphabetic order or theme were gone. Now, the shelves formed a maze from the entry of the store to the cash register at the centre of it.

The first area of the maze showed books put on the shelves to make a rainbow out of the colours upon arrival. As Maximilian entered deeper into the maze, he could see areas where books were dedicated to pink-coloured potions, some whose titles rhymed with each other and some where the shopkeeper had simply given up trying to decipher he logic behind the book sorting, fearing for a headache.  
>He could just gaze in this wonderful assortment of colours. She was given a bookshop, she had made a piece of art.<p>

After a short silence, Luna simply said she was done here, gave him the inventory list, one dumbfounded Maximilian Colbourne gave her her salary and she left. That was that.

Luna was quite happy with her work at Maximilian Colbourne's shop, but still felt a little down. The address he had given her had turned out to be a dead end and she didn't have more luck in all the bookshops she had asked about the _Book of Shadows_. When she stepped into the Leaky Cauldron, however, she immediately noticed with a leapt of joy the tall frame and sparkling eyes of her former teacher, Albus Dumbledore, though he looked younger with auburn hair and beard and didn't look as weary as when he was still alive in Luna's time. She skipped to him.

"Hello, professor Dumbledore!"

"Oh, well. I guess I didn't have to worry about finding the author of that note, she found me herself. Hello.", he said with a smile. He ordered two cups of tea. He waited for them to arrive with polite chitchat about the decoration in the pub.

"So, Miss…?"

"Lovegood, sir."

"Very well. Miss Lovegood, what were you seeking me for?"

"I'm a time-traveller", she blurted out, excited. She told him her story very quickly, her pride showing at the mention of the book. Dumbledore listened patiently and was both surprised and amused at Luna's feat.

"Well, Miss Lovegood, I think the best way for you to get home is to reiterate that erm… spell. Do you have that book?"

"That's the thing, professor, I can't find it ; I actually think it was written at my era. I can't even remember it."

"Oh, well. You can't live here, though. How old are you? Fifteen?"

"Sixteen, sir. I was about to enter Seventh year in Hogwarts if it weren't for… well, this."

She couldn't tell Dumbledore that in her time that he was dead. That would be a bit rude and insensitive. Plus, she wasn't really lying, was she?

"I see. Well, Miss Lovegood, I assume you were a Hogwarts student, since you seem to already know me? I think it'd be a great idea if you joined me in Hogwarts to finish your education and meanwhile, we'll try to send you back to your time. I'll have to run this past our Director, Professor Dippet, but I think it will be nothing but a formality. What house were you Sorted in?"

"Ravenclaw, Sir."

"Perfect. I'm not surprised, you managed to time-travel, after all," he said as if to himself in a lower voice with musing eyes. "Do you need some place to stay until the 1st of September?"

"No, I'm fine here, Sir. It is a great place to advance my researches about Wrackspurts."

Dumbledore's smile widened, he nodded and he left.

Luna giggled softly. She was going to go back to Hogwarts. She couldn't help but feel excited to see this place again, how it was before Lord Voldemort took it over. And destroyed it. However, she felt a pang of guilt at the thought that she had the chance to be relieved of the Order's burden for a while whereas her friends would still be fighting.

For a little while, she'd be free of Lord Voldemort's shadow, at least.


	3. Blue and Bronze

**Hello again everyone! I hope you will like this one :D I apologise again for all clumsiness, misspelling or grammar mistake that might come up and make your eyes burn xD Enjoy!  
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**Chapter 3 : Blue and Bronze**

As Luna Lovegood slipped into the Hogwarts uniform Dumbledore had sent her, she began to feel like her old self again, the one before the War. The Hogwarts Express compartment she was changing in was empty. She smoothed down her blue and bronze tie, pretending to sweep away an imaginary speck of dust, but she just wanted to feel the velvety cloth under her fingers, really. This uniform was probably her very own "madeleine of Proust" and a far away smile still hovered on her lips as she reminisced about her Hogwarts memories when someone came in. Or more precisely two people rushed in.

"What are we going to do about this? If _he_ learns about this, we're all screwed."

"Shut up! There's someone in here. Hey! Who the hell are you?"

Luna slowly raised her eyes and bobbed her head to the side. Two Slytherin boys, probably sixth or seventh years, had barged in her compartment. A pale blonde haired boy whose face was very slim and looked sly, like a fox and a brown-haired boy that looked a bit stupid.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!" barked Mr Fox quite rudely.

"Why, what a peculiar question to ask a person so quickly! Shouldn't you say hello first?"

In a second, her world was overwhelmed by gold and white and blue.

"If you think this is funny, Ravenclaw, you're deeply mistaken and you better treat me with some respect or I'll…", started murmuring Mr Fox, too close, way too close from her face before he was interrupted.

"Malfoy, please…", said a third voice, sounding extremely bored.

The change that operated on Mr Fox's face, or rather Malfoy's, was rather spectacular and Luna felt quite happy, in spite of the uncomfortable nearness, to be able to contemplate such a phenomenon up close, as she gazed at the abrupt vanishing of all colour on his face, the sudden contraction of his pupils to almost seem nonexistent and the violent twitch of his lower lip.

Her world returned to normal as quickly as it had been invaded earlier, and she flailed her arms around a bit to savour the space around her. When she stopped, the two boys and the voice were gone. She blinked and sat down, wishing she could read the Quibbler to make the journey quicker.

"Zane, Charles!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

As the Hufflepuff table cheered the timid Charles' sitting, Dippet held his hands out and gestured towards Luna, the lone remaining of the first year to be Sorted.

"As you may have noticed, we have a new student amongst us in Hogwarts. Let me introduce you to Luna Lovegood, transfer student from Beauxbâtons."

Luna gleefully walked to the Sorting Hat, without minding the stares of the murmuring students, like swarming bees, as she was so used to be looked at. For the second time in her life, she put the Sorting Hat on top of her head.

"What a mind, what a mind! I don't see that everyday! Oooh… A time-traveller, moreover! There's no need to dwell on this… RAVENCLAW!"

With a smile, she put down the hat and skipped to the Ravenclaw table where she was welcomed by cheers and applause. A slight blush appeared on her cheeks.

As Dippet finished his speech in a monotonous voice that few seemed to have listened to and food appeared on the table, a haughty voice interrupted her musings about the presence of rhubarb tart that was known to appeal Blibbering Humdinger which are highly dangerous creatures.

"Erm, excuse me…? Why on earth are you wearing radish earrings?"

She smiled. The girl was a pretty, red-haired Ravenclaw with a small nose that she held up high and green eyes.

"Oh, it's okay. These are not radishes, though. They're dirigible plums", she answered with a smile.

"Um… right, right," the other girl answered as she exchanged an eloquent glance with the other Ravenclaw around. "So, you're Luna Lovegood, eh? My name is Myra Simons. Here," she said as she pointed to a petite chestnut girl who eyed her suspiciously, "is Lindsay Urquart. We could show you around, if you'd like," she proposed."

"Nice to meet you, and thank you, but I'm okay. I like to explore and get lost. You can find the most interesting places," she added dreamily.

"Ermmm… If you say so," conceded Lindsay. "Anyway, what classes are you taking?"

As they chatted, Luna felt very happy to meet such nice girls so soon but couldn't help feeling something was off. She felt a burning sensation on her neck as if someone was watching her.

"Miss Lovegood?" Dippet called after the feast, when Luna was about to follow her new friends out of the Great Hall to the Ravenclaw common room.

She walked back to him. He was standing besides a tall black-haired boy, the Slytherin Head Boy according to the badge that adorned his robes. He was incongruously handsome, so much that it made Luna stare at him unblinkingly in order to find a flaw, however little it might be, because such beauty was inhuman. She didn't know how much time she spent detailing the light in his thick-lashed blue eyes that seemed to hide the most undecipherable of secrets behind their serious and polite appearance, the strong set of his jaw, his striking cheekbones and she was staring at his mouth, twisted in a warm smile that didn't quite match his eyes when she heard someone pointedly clearing his throat. She exhaled loudly ; she hadn't realised she had been holding her breath all along. Something was terribly off, but she couldn't get her finger on what. Amusement danced in the young boy's eyes and Dippet seemed bored and eager to attend to his business.

"Miss Lovegood, as I was saying, since you're new, I've decided to entrust Tom Riddle with the task of guiding you in Hogwarts. I'm sure you'll fit perfectly with his help, Tom Riddle is our best student and a very charming young man, you're in good hands," Dippet said in his monochord voice before leaving.

"And then they were two," Tom Riddle chuckled softly. "So, I shall take you to your common…"

"Something's off with your face, you know," she interrupted with a slight frown.

"Pardon me?"

"Something is missing. Doesn't your hand hurt? Being all clenched up like that?"

He released his fingers immediately, his knuckles still white and smiled.

"Sorry, it's just a habit. So, you're from Beauxbâtons? _La belle France ! Comme ce doit être beau là-bas !_" he said in a perfect accent with a charming smile.

"Sorry?" she asked dreamily.

"Nothing," he said after a short silence. Something in his voice made Luna look up to him, but he was still smiling. "Shall we go, then?"

She was walking with him, but after a while, he slowed down and let her take the lead, and only when they were already arrived in front of the common room did she realise that she wasn't supposed to know the way already. She cleared her throat.

"The password is _Scientia_. You seem to be very familiar with Hogwarts," he let out after a pause, as an afterthought.

"Erm. Yes. I've visited before."

"Really? On what occasion?"

Ugh. He wasn't going to let it slide easily, would he? She racked her brains for a while but only come up with a lame "Oooh, is this a Heliopath?" which Tom unfortunately welcomed with a raised eyebrow.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Heliopaths, of course. Cornelius Fudge had an army of these vicious creatures. Er. I mean, someone I knew in Beauxbâtons was trying to raise an army of them."

"Cornelius Fudge doesn't sound very French."

"Maybe he was of English descent!"

"Maybe," he smiled. "I'll leave you here, then. You'll have no trouble finding the classrooms tomorrow then, I assume?" he asked with an ironic edge to his tone.

"My fellow Ravenclaw mates will surely show me the way," she answered happily, completely oblivious to his sarcasm. "_Scientia_!"

The portrait opened, she began to enter the Ravenclaw common room but suddenly spun around and tilted her head to the side, inspecting Tom's face.

"Your eyes… They were blue earlier, now they're jet black."

"I think you're mistaken. Good night."

The common room was empty when she entered it, therefore she made it directly to the dormitories. She saw her name along with Lindsay's and Myra's and another girl's called Elena McDougal engraved on a door. She glanced through the slightly opened curtains of the bed at the girl she supposed to be Elena who was sound asleep, her long golden locks framing her pale face ; she closed the curtains of her bed and sneaked toward Myra and Lindsay who seemed in deep conversation.

"Hey, girls!" Luna greeted.

"YOU! You were with Tom Riddle all this time! How was it?" Lindsay exclaimed.

"It was pretty disturbing. He always asks annoyingly good questions," muttered Luna, frowning.

"You have to tell us everything that happened!"

"Why are you so interested?"

"Well, duh," Myrra started, rolling her eyes. "He's devastatingly handsome and unbelievably smart."

"He should have been Sorted in Ravenclaw," Lindsay let out with a faint dreamy sigh.

"Almost every girl has tried to get close to him, but nobody managed excepted some idiotic Slytherin."

"I don't like his looks that much. It's a bit distracting," mused Luna, at the sheer amazement of her new acquaintances.

"You're crazy. I'm going to bed before you start uttering some other nonsense!" said Lindsay. But her smile showed she was more amused than scornful.

When Luna pulled her covers on her small body, she looked around and saw Ravenclaw's colours everywhere. She felt like home, and wondered for how long blue and bronze would protect her from Tom Riddle's prying questions.


	4. Crimson

**Chapter 4**

**Hello everyone! I really apologise for my tardiness. I was so busy with the Nanowrimo, which I failed like a loser. I feel so stupid about it e_e Anyway, i hope you'll like this chapter ; please review and tell me if you liked it or not and don't hesitate to give me some advice or correct my bad English. Thank you! **

**(oh my god I spent all my life thinking a barrister was actually the same as a _barrista_ LOL am I a moron or what?)**

Luna woke up quite early, excited about the perspective of a new day. She dressed as silent as possible in order not to wake the other girls and went in the Great Hall which was deserted. She ate her breakfast quickly and went to the library. It was exactly how she remembered it - except for Mrs Pince was of course nowhere to be seen ; in her stead was a young woman in her early twenties who was in deep slumber, her head resting on her arms. She decided not to disturb her and went directly to the time travel section, hoping to find something about her situation, which she had to try and rectify for her friends no matter how appreciable it was.

She spotted a promising book at the top of a shelf, therefore she reached out for it, standing on her tip toes to make herself taller but with little success until a pale slender hand with fingers like spider legs took the book for her. She spun around to find Tom Riddle eyeing a dusty "Mishaps of Time Travelling" in his hand. She relaxed her feet and waited patiently for the Head Boy to give the book back to her, which he did with a reluctant slowness, an eyebrow raised.

"Few people find interest in Time Travel," he finally commented.

"Oh. Should I put it back? It seems interesting, though."

"It was a mere observation, please do read it."

She realised suddenly acutely how close they were, so she crouched under his arm and fled to the nearest table and opened the book hastily. Personal space was very important for her. She felt him sitting next to her but kept on reading.

"So, what do you find so fascinating about snakes, Tom?" Luna finally asked, her head propped on her elbow. He was reading a book about magical animals, in the middle of the chapter of snakes. "I have a friend who can speak to them," she added dreamily.

"What? Who? Who can speak to snakes?" Tom abruptly asked, his eyes flaring. His knuckles were white from clenching his fists so hard.

"A friend of mine, you don't know him. From, er… France."

She resumed her reading but suddenly felt an iron grip on her arm.

"You're lying," said a treacherous calm voice, his face mere inches from hers. "Tell me what you're hiding," he demanded, looking directly in her eyes. At first, he frowned as if he was frustrated and held up her chin so that she had no choice but to look at him.

She couldn't help but stare back at him anyway, at his the black abyss. They were so dark she couldn't distinguish the pupil from the iris, but there was some light in them, cruel and cold that made her want to run away but kept her hooked and mesmerised at the same time. She vaguely felt her eyes widen and a shudder go through her but more importantly, she felt in danger. Something was terribly wrong. The more she stared in these black pools, the more she wanted to flee like a flock of birds upon hearing a gunshot, but she was paralysed. He blinked twice and she could move again. Her throat emitted a small strangled cry.

"I'm a time traveller," she said honestly, her huge grey eyes lost and unblinking.

He chuckled, but his eyes weren't chuckling.

"You are going to sing, my little bird, or I'll make you."

And then he left without so much as looking at her.

She didn't ponder on her encounter with the Head Boy until later that day, mainly because it was on her nature not to dwell too much on things, but partly because she didn't want to think any more time than necessary about his terrifying eyes. However, she couldn't help it when she saw him, sitting in the back rows, surprisingly, in Dumbledore's class, reading his Transfiguration textbook. She sat next to Myra and tried to ignore his presence, absorbed in her cross stitching of a Ravenclaw emblem.

"Oh, please, don't interrupt your chattering about, Miss Habbot", said Professor Dumbledore's voice out of nowhere, materialising a few seconds later next to said Miss Habbot, an amused smile hovering on his lips.

Blushing heavily, she stopped her discussion as well as the rest of the class while Dumbledore made his way to the front of the class.

"Hello. Welcome back to another exciting year of learning at Hogwarts and most of all, of passing your OWLs. I know you're all excited to be free of school, but stay focused or you might have to stay another year in our care. Though it would fill me with an endless glee to spend another year with you, I have no intention of letting any of you fail, so please don't hesitate to ask me for help if you're in trouble, whether it's about Transfiguration or any other subject. Even personal matters," he added with a reassuring smile.

His speech made a student behind Luna exhale loudly out of sheer relief. She turned back and saw a fellow Ravenclaw, rather handsome but bland and who wore a quite singular expression of fear and helplessness on his face, which got dramatically worse after he noticed Luna's inspection. He blushed furiously, averting his gaze from her and twisting his fingers nervously. She tilted her head to the side, shook it and went back to listening to Dumbledore.

"As for today, we'll practice a bit to see if this summer of leisure and idleness didn't leave you too rusty," he said as he passed around teapots. "I would like you to Transfigure these into your favourite animals. _But_," he started over the excited murmurs the assignment had raised, "there won't be any tiger, trolls, dragons or any animals deemed inappropriate by common sense. Please be sensible in your choice, or you'll learn to be in Detention."

The excited murmurs fainted a bit as Dumbledore smiled warmly, but it seemed to Luna that his gaze hovered around the Slytherin area, where Tom Riddle was seated, who looked straight back in his eyes with an expression of politeness. He looked like an angel and Luna couldn't help but think that the rude and threatening person of this morning had nothing to do with that Tom Riddle ; maybe he wasn't as scary as she had believed.

All students were thoroughly thinking about which was their favourite animal and animatedly discussing it with their neighbour. Myra, her head propped on her delicate hand, was nonplussed.

"I don't even like animals that much", she complained. "My parents used to have a cat but I was allergic to it, coughing like crazy all the time. At some point, I ended up being unable to breathe and my parents _finally_ decided to get rid of it."

"_Get rid of it_?" repeated Lindsay in a horrified voice.

"They just gave it to someone else, chill, you dummy!"

Luna already knew what animal she was going to transform the teapot into and she was preparing the spell in her head but her musings were interrupted by a burst of applause. The scared Ravenclaw behind her had succeeded the exercise the first by transfiguring his teapot in a gerbil which was curiously sniffing his hands.

"Bravo, bravo Mr Scott! Ten points to Ravenclaw!" congratulated Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling with delight.

_Mr Scott_ looked as if he wanted to bury a hole in the ground and hide in it, blushing furiously because of all that attention. He watched his gerbil, escaping his hand to a dark corner of the classroom, with envy, his hands still trembling violently. Tom Riddle was staring at the poor Ravenclaw and Dumbledore in a carefully detached manner, but something radiated off of him and made Luna shiver. She returned her attention to the exercise.

Soon enough, most students had transfigured their teapot into the animal of choice. Myra had finally decided to make the teapot into a raven, to honour her house ; Lindsay had changed it into a parrot, his wings as vibrant and colourful as a rainbow and Luna had transfigured the teapot into a small yellow bird, gleefully chirping and flying around the classroom. It looked so glad to be free that she decided to open a window and let it discover the world. It was the second of September, therefore the sun was high up in the sky, the trees were green and majestic and a light breeze made the sun's warmth even more enjoyable. As she watched Lyra (the name she gave the small bird) soaring and exploring the sky, probably savouring all these new sensations, she realised Dumbledore was behind her, observing.

"You know, Miss Lovegood, I can't give you a grade without examining the transfigured teapot first," he sighed with an amused smile.

"Oh… right. Can I have another chance?"

"Of course, take a new teapot. And wait for me to actually grade it _before_ you release it this time," he added with a chuckle.

She smiled and returned to her desk. Before she could even start, she jumped as she heard a loud and quick breathing behind her. It was Scott again,a horrified expression on his face, his mouth opened as if to let out a silent shriek and he was staring hard at his shin. She lowered her curious gaze to find an emerald green snake, curled up around his calf, its tongue pointing out with a mesmerising hiss. The snake wasn't the only one hissing, actually, Luna noticed. She saw in the corner of her eye the Head Boy, his eyes intent on the snake and his mouth whispering impossible sounds. She jerked out of her reverie when she noticed Scott was shaking so hard the snake was getting excited. She rose up, brushed against Scott's hand in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture and crouched down to the snake. She tried hissing to it, but it just glanced at her. Finally, she gingerly made contact. Her finger brushed against the snake's triangular head, he didn't react - but feeling its scaly skin was so alien for her that she couldn't help but giggling softly. "I'm glad I had the chance to touch a snake at least once in my life," she thought. She liked all sorts of animals and liked reading about them, especially the "only apparently dangerous ones". With more confidence, this time, she slid her hands under its lower body and started taking the snake, as slowly as possible, off Scott's calf. The snake tangled itself around her wrist as, avoiding any sudden movements as much as she could, for she had read a bit about handling snakes and knew what behaviour to adopt, she rose up again softly, the reptile's head observing its surroundings curiously.

Scott's breathing had considerably slowed, but he was livid and couldn't stop shaking with his hands clenched on his table, making it shake loudly with him. Tom's hissing had stopped, he was staring at Luna with as blatant a disbelief his cold-blooded self-control could allow. Dumbledore made his way towards him, addressing the Head Boy in a hushed tone, looking at him with clear disappointment and the young man had lowered his head with contrition. Some girls were shrieking frantically, gathered in the background of the classroom. Oblivious to all this hustle, the smiling Ravenclaw was helping the snake curling himself more around her when its head suddenly turned towards his wrist, his mouth wide open for a few seconds before biting abruptly into the palm of her hand. For a few seconds, nothing happened ; Luna still smiled dreamily at the snake, Scott was absorbed in slowing down his heartbeat and stopping his trembling, Tom Riddle and the rest of the class just staring.

Luna Lovegood let out a small cry of pain and surprise as she felt the venom burning through her veins, and she clasped her palm with her other because blood was quickly flowing out of the bite. Before anyone could make another move, the snake took this as an opportunity to bite her other exposed hand, at her wrist. Dumbledore flicked his wand and the snake was gone and little Luna fell to her knees and lay down, her hands faced up next to her face, pouring her blood on the floor. She vaguely noticed her white shirt stained with crimson, her grey skirt blackened by the thick liquid and she faintly heard several people shout "Get the nurse!" before everything went black.


	5. The First Bite

**Chapter 5 : The First Bite**

When Luna woke up in the middle of the night, she felt lost ; looking up at the white ceiling, the white curtains around her white bed eerily lit by the moonlight piercing through the window - where were the blue and bronze colours of Ravenclaw's dormitories she was so fond of and felt like home? As she tried to sit up to have a better idea of her location, she noticed something was wrong with her hands ; they were bandaged. Soon enough, she remembered what happened. This was where the snake had bitten her and she was in the Hospital Wing. Seeing the bandage on her wrist made her shiver, made her remember something she never ever wanted to be remembered of and…

"You're awake," commented in a blatantly annoyed voice a plump red haired woman.

She was sitting in the middle of the room, reading a romance novel entitled "_The Dark Wizard's Captive_". She tore herself away from it with a sigh, rose up and handed a potion to the young girl, gesturing to her to gulp it down with a barely concealed impatience. Luna gathered she was the school nurse in this era. She wasn't sure she liked her very much.

"Honestly, I can't believe you fainted, young lady. I know a snake bite is scary, and that snake _was_ indeed dangerous but still - did you eat lunch yesterday?"

Luna furrowed her eyebrows. Actually, she had felt kind of nauseous at lunch after her encounter with Riddle and hadn't been able to bring herself to eat.

"No, I couldn't eat that day."

"Don't tell me you're another anorexic student," the nurse started, already rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm okay, I like eating. I wasn't hungry at the moment, that's all, I promise."

"Fine, if you say so. Anyway, you won't suffer any consequences from the bites, this is a benign venom ; it just hurts and makes you bleed a lot. You only fainted because you were weak from not eating, which was aggravated by your skipping lunch. You'll stay here today just in case, though. And you'll have to _eat_," she added, with piercing eyes, obviously not believing Luna was a healthy eater.

She fell back into slumber quickly after that, musing about how Mrs Pomfrey would probably have made her stay at least a week.

She woke up again from a dreamless sleep, probably induced by the nurse's potion. The room was still dark but the first light of dawn was starting to show so Luna untangled herself from her sheets, wearing a nightgown and barefoot. Her blonde hair was a complete mess, even more than usual - which was a feat in itself. The young girl strolled out of the Hospital Wing, her barefooted footsteps barely audible but still the lone disruption in the imposing quiet hallways of Hogwarts. She went down the long, long marble stairs, step by step, taking her time and gazing at the sleeping portraits. When she finally set foot outside, the sun was starting to rise, overwhelming her with red and orange and golden light. She didn't particularly care for sunrises, but she just missed being outside like that. She made her way to the lake and lay down, closing her eyes, focusing on feeling the blades of dewy grass against her head, her arms, her legs and her toes. She heard voices nearby but didn't really pay attention until she recognized one in particular.

"I'm going to change strategies," commented Tom Riddle's voice, hidden behind the trees.

"Would you like us to help you take care of it, _my Lord_?"

The name made her shivering to her bones, bringing back unpleasant memories. Luna opened her eyes and sat up on her elbows, all ears now.

"Absolutely not, Malfoy. You've done quite enough already," snapped Riddle again. "I'll take care of this alone."

"But, my Lord…" started Malfoy.

"It seems you're not sufficiently afraid of me if you feel confident enough to question my decisions," murmured Tom Riddle in a calm but cold as ice voice. "Do I have to remember you the Chamber of Secrets?"

If Malfoy didn't, Luna sure did. A perplexed frown wrinkled her forehead - the only exterior sign of the ice cold shudder that went excruciatingly slowly down her back.

"Very well, my Lord," answered about six or seven people at the same time after a short silence in which Luna thought she heard a small gasp.

"Now leave."

The hush of footsteps and Tom Riddle and Luna Lovegood were alone again in the clearing. He started leaving towards the Forbidden Forest and Luna ran a bit to catch up with him.

"What on earth are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just passing by and…"

-"You should be in the Hospital Wing!" cut Tom Riddle, obviously displeased by her presence.

"Oh, I'm fine! I wanted a bit of fresh air, that's all."

"Yeah, you're fine, you fainted after a stupid snake bite - it wasn't even a particularly venomous one."

"I forgot to eat, I was so focused trying to find a Wrackspurt, surely you can understand that."

"Oh, _of course, you just had to try and find a Wrackspurt_! I can't believe what I'm hearing. Please be serious, nobody believes Wrackspurts exist," snapped the Head Boy, annoyance seeping through his voice.

"Wrackspurts do exist! My father and I have several proof of its existence and I'd be happy to show them to you…"

Luna tried to grasp his arm to make him stop because he was walking too fast but Tom didn't stop the slightest and she slipped down the mud. If her white nightgown wasn't already stained enough, now it definitely was.

Tom Riddle just stared down at her, superb, an eyebrow elegantly raised and after a few seconds, he began laughing. Tinkling bells of amusement, dimples and pearly white teeth that were usually always hidden behind stern lips or ironic lopsided smiles - who was this young man? she thought, her mouth slightly open. He stopped laughing, noticing her dumbstruck expression, but a smile still hovered on his lips. He reached out suddenly, his hand to her face, and rubbed some mud off her face. Luna rose up abruptly, said "Thank you" and focused on unsuccessfully trying to clean her nightgown and regain some dignity.

"Anyway. What were _you_ doing outside so early, Tom Riddle?" asked Luna, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

She could almost have looked menacing if she wasn't in a ridiculously big nightgown covered with mud - but she just looked out of place.

"Professor Slughorn, the Potions Master, had asked me to gather some plants for him," he calmly answered, lazily gesturing towards the greenhouses.

He wore a small contrite smile, as if he was a bit embarrassed to have been proved such a saint, helping out his teacher.

Luna just stared at him with a sad smile.

"You're lying. But it's okay. I would have preferred if you had told me you didn't want to answer me because it was a private matter, though."

Even if she hadn't overheard Tom's earlier conversation and already knew he wasn't simply outside to collect plants for Professor Slughorn, she would have known without a doubt that he was lying. One of Luna's favourite activities had always been looking at beauty and art, and she was particularly fond of finding out people's special talent. She had known quickly that Ronald Weasley had a real talent for eating food and flying a broom ; she immediately noticed Neville's kindness and uncharacteristic dexterity in Herbology and on that moment, she knew that Tom Riddle had a remarkable ability to weave at a moment's notice stories riddled with lies. She recognised and appreciated his talent and couldn't help but marvel at the genuineness of his expression but still noticed something was awfully off in his general manner as he lied to her.

The Head Boy's expression remained the same, an unsure smile plastered on his lips, but his jaw quite noticeably twitched.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, still smiling, his eyes strangely fixed.

"That's funny, people always tell me that. When I try to debate with them about the Ministry of Magic's plot to take over the Faery world, for example."

"I don't want to know."

"Nobody ever does," she mumbled. "Anyway, don't you think you should apologise to me? It would be the sensible thing to do," she added as the walked back to the castle.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm not stupid. I know some people think I'm crazy, but I'm not stupid. I saw you speaking to the snake. Is that why you were reading books about snakes in the library? Because you're a Parselmouth?"

"Leave me alone."

He walked past her, noticeably speeding up.

"Hey. It's okay, I'm sure you didn't do it on purpose. My Parselmouth friend, too, was misunderstood once because of his gift," she said with a reassuring smile.

He stared at her with undecipherable eyes for a second and then abruptly resumed walking - but slower this time. She matched her pace to his and they went back to the castle together.

"You're kind of strange," he told her as they were parting.

He had walked her back to the Hospital Wing. Thankfully, the nurse hadn't noticed her impromptu absence.

"I know, people always tell me that."

"In a good way," he added as he left.

Luna watched him as he went down the stairs, a gleeful smile illuminating her face. No one had ever told her that before.


	6. The Power of Poetry

**Chapter 6 : The Power of Poetry**

Luna had slipped inside unseen and was pretending to be asleep in bed when "Nurse Ratched", as she has nicknamed the harsh woman, emerged from her office, looking as displeased as yesterday, wrinkling her nose as if she was smelling something particularly nauseating.

"Wake up, you can go now," Nurse Ratched said while cleaning up one of the medicine cabinets. "Be sure to _eat_ this time, no need to see you occupying a bed for nothing," she added with aggravation.

The young Ravenclaw preferred to ignore that and put on her uniform.

"Oh, Miss Lovegood, there you are!"

Professor Dumbledore was standing in the threshold of the door to the Infirmary, smiling softly, unaffected by Nurse Ratched's crossed arms and cold demeanour. They left the cold white room to the warm corridors of Hogwarts, coming down the stairs together.

"Good morning, Professor."

"I actually was looking for you ; would you mind coming to my office later for us to have a little chat?"

"I have classes until four."

"Then, please come by after four. I'll be waiting for you with a cup of tea and some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans!"

"Excellent! Shall I bring some _ratatouille_?"

She had no idea what it was, but it sounded deliciously French so she said the last word louder than the rest of the sentence for all students to hear in the corridors.

"No, thank you, I already had that for lunch last week," Dumbledore answered with a bright smile. "Maybe next time. I will see you at four, Miss Lovegood."

"See you at four, sir."

When Luna arrived to her Charms class with the Hufflepuffs, Lindsay practically jumped on her.

"So you're okay! Good! We were a bit worried. Well, not like panic attack worried, but we were quite worried. Well, mostly me. Anyway, you're feeling better, right?"

"Yes, I am, thank you very much," said Luna, pleasantly surprised. "The venom of the snake is not even lethal, I collapsed because I hadn't eaten at lunch. Don't worry, you won't have to find a new study partner with Myrra," she added with a serious tone.

Lindsay mustn't have thought that Luna was serious because she burst into laughter while patting Luna's shoulder, mumbling something about how entertaining and hilarious she was between two hiccups of laughter.

She took a seat next to Lindsay and found herself behind Scott who kept stealing glances at her. After a while of this, she started to worry and kept chasing invisible Nargles around her head ; that would explain why he kept looking at her.

Their Charms Professor was having them exercising the Aguamenti Charm. Scott was already finished, quickly seconded by Luna and Myra but Lindsay struggled for a while, her wand staying as dry as the desert. When she finally managed it, she accidentally angled her wand towards her face and ended up looking like she had just come out of a quick swim in the Lake.

Sighing, Myra was drying Lindsay's hair with her wand, mumbling to herself, as Luna, finished with the work, poked Scott on his shoulder. No reaction. Poke. Nothing. Poke poke poke. Still nothing. Wand in earhole. Jumping and shouts. Interesting.

"What is wrong with you?" hissed the Ravenclaw, his hands raised protectively over his ears.

"Nothing. I thought you had some insensibility in your body, since you weren't answering to my pokes, so I decided to test it. Were you just unresponsive in your shoulders or in your whole body? Apparently, it was just your shoulders."

"And it never occurred to you that I was simply ignoring you?"

Luna stayed speechless for a few seconds.

"But why would you do that?" she asked after having recomposed herself.

"Because I don't appreciate being poked in the shoulder. Why didn't you simply call me?"

"Well, I don't know your name. Calling you just "Scott" seems rude and terribly formal," she replied, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Just call me Scott."

He kept glancing nervously at the rest of the class to make sure nobody was looking at them.

"Don't you want to tell me your name?"

"No. Everyone just calls me Scott," he attempted to say in a firm and final tone, somewhat subdued by the furious blush on his cheeks.

"Oh. Well, then, hello Scott."

"Hi. By the way, it was nice of you to make the snake go away the other day. Thanks," he added after an awkward silence.

"You seem to be talented in witchcraft," she commented suddenly, her eyes dreamy.

"No, I'm - I'm not talented at all! We should get back to work," he said suddenly angry and fearful.

He turned his back to her, as she opened her mouth to speak, definitely ending the conversation.

In Potions class, Slughorn assigned Luna to work with Tom Riddle, to "help her catch up". Luna skipped next to him ; no one else was sitting there and knocked her stool over. Without looking up from his notes, he stopped the stool as it was falling, an almost inaudible sigh escaping his lips.

"Why thank you, Tom!", she said with a warm smile.

She heard some girl behind her mimicking her "Why, thank you, _Tom_" with a purposely ridiculous high and shrill voice.

They were supposed to brew an Ageing Potion. When Luna came back to their desk from fetching all the ingredients, Tom appraised her coldly.

"I think it'd be better if you just settled to observation, Lovegood. Merlin knows what disaster you may bring to my perfect grade."

"Hey!" she protested. "I've already brewed this potion, I wouldn't be a hindrance at all!"

"Have you, now?" he asked, abruptly turning to face her, his eyes piercing like X-rays.

"Yes! So let me help a bit."

"Fine. Don't you dare mess it up," he finally gave in, his jaw tightened.

Ten minutes later, Tom Riddle was forced to admit that Luna Lovegood wasn't exactly a hindrance. She cut the herbs with precision and regularity and she had excellent timing ; her eyebrows were furrowed and she was slightly sticking out her tongue in concentration. Soon enough, their potion was bubbling softly with a satisfying sky blue colour. Luna's bright smile lightened up her entire face.

"Well, I wasn't so bad, now, was I?" she finally exclaimed.

"I guess not."

"I cook a lot at home, for my dad," she explained. "He gets so caught up and concentrated in his work, sometimes, he forgets to eat. Potions are quite similar to the art of cooking, you know?"

"Is it now?" he responded, an eyebrow slightly cocked.

"Why, of course! Haven't you ever cooked?"

"I am afraid I can't say that I have," he said quickly, trying to conceal his aggravation.

"I can teach you, one day, if you want."

"I'm fine," he replied curtly.

"Are you sure? Your cuts are a bit sloppy…"

Tom straightened himself back into his seat, his wrist clenched so tight his knuckles were white.

"May I have a moment alone with you after class, miss Lovegood?" he inquired instead, the tension in his voice almost imperceptible.

"Oh, I'd love to but I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore already asked me to come to his office after Potions for a chat," she answered distractedly.

She didn't notice the faint gleam of red in his eyes, the anger and the devouring curiosity.

"Enter," called the voice of her now favorite professor.

She entered his office. She'd never been in Dumbledore's headmaster office in her time, but this was gorgeous. It was in complete disarray, strange instruments and liquids displayed everywhere without any obvious order - and she _loved_ it.

"Is that a Nargles detector?" she marveled, pointing at an object that looked like an ammeter with an antenna.

"No, no," he chuckled. "Let's just say it is another story for another time. Lemon sherbet?"

"Yes, please. What is it you wanted to talk about, professor?"

"Oh, right. I wanted to know if you had made any progress remembering the words of the spell you used to come here. Not that I don't appreciate your company, but I'm afraid time is a sensible - and dangerous - thing not to be meddled with."

She furrowed her brows thoughtfully. She had completely forgotten about it, she realised with shame.

"I'm sorry, professor. I… I forgot to look into it. I don't know how I could have forgotten such an important thing…"

"I feared such thing might happen. It is one of the consequences of long term time travel. I am afraid you are eventually going to lose all memories of your own era, your family, your friends, what you have lived if you remain here too long - it is time's way of correcting an anomaly. So that you wouldn't, say, know how to prevent the current World War. This is why I insist you try and think about the spell daily, if you wish to return home. I don't know what other consequences an extended stay here might have," he explained her gravely.

Luna felt herself nod numbly; she didn't really listen to the rest of the conversation and Dumbledore let her leave quickly after that to let her digest this new information.

"_The Bond which was not to be done, give us the power to see it undone_… "

The young Ravenclaw had been holed up in the library for the last four hours, desperate to try and remember the spell. She was pretty sure the two first lines were like that, but she had no recollection whatsoever of what the third line was. She crumpled a piece of paper into a ball for the twentieth time this evening. She couldn't help writing her own third line and the weirdest sentences kept showing up. There should be something about time next, though, right?

"What are you doing?"

Tom Riddle appeared out of an alley, his hands clasped behind his back. Disturbingly handsome. A charming half smile played on his lips and Luna suddenly had the image of a spider observing his prey fumbling in a prison of silk threads.

"Oh, I'm researching… poetry."

That wasn't really a lie, was it? Tom Riddle just plastered another smile on his face in response, eyes of steel but lips that could lure a stone.

"May I see? I happen to be a poetry aficionado myself," he answered slowly, honey dripping from his tongue.

She furrowed her eyebrows. _It couldn't hurt, maybe he'll help me_, she thought as she handed him the beginning of the spell.

"It's a poem a… friend wrote, in France, and I can't remember the last line," she explained with a sad little smile.

"That is… the worst piece of poetry I've ever seen," finally said the Slytherin Head Boy.

He wasn't smiling anymore, he didn't look like a predator ; he was just staring at her, a mixture of disgust and incomprehension was clearly written on his face.

"This is a really rude thing to say," started Luna, slightly offended.

"_Excuse me_? The author of this _poem _should apologise to humanity to have written such a dreadful thing."

"It's not Shakespeare, but still it…"

"_It rhymes with the same word in the end_!"

"All words have power, even if they seem simple or insignificant to _you_" Luna retorted stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"The power to aggravate anyone who likes poetry? And it's obviously Muggle poetry, it can't have any power."

"Muggles have power! They just don't have the same power we do! With these words, I managed to…"

She abruptly cut her sentence short. She was starting to remember the last line of the spell…

"_And turn back time…_"

"What?"

"Wait a minute, please, Tom!"

"What, you found a Wrackspurt near a bookshelf?" inquired Tom, irony seeping from his voice.

"_And turn back time to whence it was begun_! I got it, Tom, I got it! "_The Bond which was not to be done, give us the power to see it undone and turn back time to whence it was begun_!"

Tom Riddle was about to snort and tell her the ending was definitely not any better than the first two lines, but he found he was alone in the dark library.

"Miss Lovegood?" he called.

"_Luna_?"

Had she Disillusioned herself? A slight blush made its way on his cheeks.

"_The Bond which was not to be done, give us the power to see it undone and turn back time to whence it was begun_!" he reluctantly mumbled, hoping no one would hear him.

Nothing happened.

"_Homenum Revelio_," he whispered.  
>He was alone in the library.<p>

"But you _can't_ Disapparate in Hogwarts," said Tom aloud, as if it would make Luna appear back to his eyes.

She was completely gone.


	7. Alea Iacta Est

**Hi everyone! I apoogise for the last chapter's tardiness. I know, I suck : 3 months to update? So I wanted to make it up to you by publishing this one on time lol I felt really ashamed. I hope you will like this and I will do my best to update quickly again! Cheers 3**

**Chapter 7 : Alea Iacta Est**

"LUNA!"

After popping back into the 1990's in the middle of a Scotlandorest near Hogwarts, she had managed her way back to Grimmauld Square in three days of funky hitch-hiking - first in a van exhaling the suspicious smell of something stronger than cigarettes driven by hippies who found in the young witch a most interesting conversation partner, then she travelled with a couple of elderly retired, whose stories she listened to with great pleasure, and she finished the journey in the sports car of university students who found Luna's 1940's Hogwarts uniform "totally _retro_" and absolutely wanted to know where she got it. Standing in front of the door of the Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters, she simply knocked twice, wearing her brightest smile and her hair as dishevelled as ever and she had the surprise of her life to see Ginny Weasley collapse in her arms, shouting incoherent things about how everybody thought she was dead. Harry had a broad grin on his face and said : "It's good to have you back".

Everybody welcomed her with exclamations of glee - well, not everybody. Severus Snape, standing in a dark corner of the living room, simply cocked an eyebrow at her sight, his calculative gaze considering her under a new light. After a while of Luna being bombarded by so many questions she couldn't actually answer any of them (especially from a frustrated Hermione Granger who was simply unable to fathom how on earth Luna had managed this little trick), Mrs Weasley forced Luna to her room to rest while she organised a "small party to celebrate her coming back from Merlin knows where".

The young girl happily obliged since she wasn't sure the last time she had had a good night's rest and fell quickly asleep. Hours later, she was awaken by Mrs Black's discriminatory shouts ; Tonks had once again waken her. She was still apologising to everyone when Luna came down the stairs. Mrs Weasley had prepared enough food to last a siege ; stew, salads, pot pie, porridge, cakes, tarts - she had made it all and it smelled divine. When she saw the Ravenclaw, she smiled at her :

"I hope you'll enjoy dinner," she said quite loudly.

"Thank you Mrs Weasley!" she said as she pulled the older witch in a tight hug.

Mrs Weasley looked quite unsure at first, but hugged her back after a few seconds.

"Have fun, sweetheart," she whispered in her ear before hastening to the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Soon enough, the longed-for question came up. They were all gathered at the table - her friends and Potions Master from the Order of the Phoenix - and eating pot pie when Harry Potter, sitting right next to her, finally couldn't take it any more and asked her what everyone wanted know in a low voice.<p>

"So… Where were you all this time, Luna? You were gone for almost two months! What happened to you?"

However, as low as he tried to be, strangely enough everybody at the table seemed to sense that the subject had been brought up so naturally, everybody fell silent and stared at Luna. She wasn't used to such interest, to the gleam of curiosity in their eyes and their undivided attention. Usually people just tried to get away from her and her non sequiturs as fast as possible. She felt appreciated and important for the first time since her mother had died.

"Well, I was at Hogwarts," she started.

"_What_? You were at Hogwarts? But it's controlled by the Death Eaters! You can't have been."

Everyone was protesting and Harry was trying to calm them down so that Luna could continue.

"Yes, I was there - taking classes and everything, with Professor Dumbledore."

"_Dumbledore_?"

This time, Harry had interrupted her and he looked extremely shaken. The interest had gone as quickly as it had appeared. Hermione took a deep breath, as if to keep herself from sounding too angry.

"Luna, I understand that you're, erm… _in your own world_, but you can't say these things. You know how hard it has been for everyone to grieve for Professor Dumbledore, and you bringing it up… It's really insensitive. He's dead, it's not funny."

Luna just stared, for a while, her mouth opened in a shocked O. She felt her hands shake, so she folded them neatly on her lap and forced what she hoped to be a calming smile on her lips.

"No, you don't understand, let me…"

"Luna, please, stop."

Harry had interrupted her in such a weary, tired voice that her mouth snapped shut in a sad, small line. He rose up from his seat and left ; soon enough everybody was mimicking him. Luna stayed completely silent, focusing on the scraping of the chairs across the floor and the thump of the feet clumping upstairs and when she heard nothing but her soft breathing, she realised she was completely alone.

* * *

><p>Things went back to normal. Ginny was still her best friend, Harry talked to her sometimes, when he was not too busy thinking of plans to destroy the Dark Lord, Hermione got mad every time Luna dared mention something the narrow-minded Gryffindor cast aside as imaginary and Ron ate a lot of food. Everyone else looked at her like she was crazy ; sometimes it was with a calming smile in the hope that it would stop her from attacking them, sometimes it was with scared eyes that wanted to look at anything but her and they pretty much ignored her whenever she talked about those extraordinary beliefs she held to heart. Never again, she attempted to mention to anyone her time travel adventures. Everything was the same, except for her former Potions Master who kept eyeing her with musing eyes.<p>

One night, the Order was gathered to talk about the recent attack of Voldemort and the Death Eaters on a Muggle village and Luna had been invited out of politeness rather than because she could be useful ; therefore she was half-listening, half wondering about her friends in the 1940's Hogwarts. She thought about Scott and his oddly elusive behavior, about Lindsay's adorable clumsiness and Lindsay's incredible poise and beauty and Tom Riddle's… He was such an enigma, she couldn't describe him or say what she liked about him. She wasn't even sure she liked him because he was a bit scary, but she knew not to judge misunderstood people too quickly because she knew what it was like to be judged hastily. She started biting the nail of her thumb when she heard a familiar name pop in the conversation.

"Who's _Tom_?" was asking Mondingus Fletcher.

"It's the real name of You-Know-Who," explained Hermione after having flashed a glance to Harry to check if it was okay to tell the swindling wizard. "Tom Riddle."

Ginny noticeably flinched.

"Tom Riddle? That's funny you're mentioning him, I know him!" blurted out Luna with a dreamy smile.

She then remembered that she shouldn't talk about her time-travelling adventures and frowned. Everyone was staring at her and Ginny's ears had turned pink.

"What do you mean, you know him?" asked coldly Hermione.

"I saw him after I went through the portal," she explained, tilting her head to the side in wonder. "He is not very nice, but he is very handsome. It is kind of distracting when you speak to him, actually."

Ginny blanched and abruptly left the room. Snape let out a small chuckle and Harry looked at her like he had never seen her before. Everyone was silent.

"How on earth did you meet Tom Riddle? He's _Voldemort_!" Hermione finally exclaimed.

"Why, I went through the portal and time-travelled, of course! I was a student with him at Hogwarts in the 1940's."

Another stunned silence. Finally, Harry said in a very low voice :

"You're telling us that you used a fake Muggle spell book to travel back in time so that you could go to Hogwarts and make friends with the freaking Dark Lord? Was it on your bucket list or something?"

"I didn't know he was the Dark Lord," she muttered, frowning.

She had spent two months in Hogwarts with Voldemort? That explained why he looked so dangerous. But he didn't look _that_ dangerous, the last days she spent with him. He just looked like a teenage boy ; nothing like the noseless snake-like eyes.

"So, that's how you managed to see Dumbledore. You were his student at Hogwarts," concluded Harry softly.

Luna nodded, a dreamy smile making its way on her pink lips. Hermione shifted uncomfortably on her seat but no one else moved.

"That's perfect, actually," continued the Chosen One in a brighter voice.

Luna raised her eyebrows, her huge grey eyes standing out even more, for him to go on.

"You could kill him for us. Weed out evil at its roots. None of that suffering, none of all these deaths," he explained, speaking louder at every word.

His words hung in the air as everyone was considering this. Luna just felt her stomach knot and everything went blurry. After a while, she became conscious that an argument was taking place about this project; she heard a lot of yelling but not once was she consulted. She slowly rose up and no one noticed. She went out of the room, closing the door without a sound behind her, muffling all the yelling about the consequences of meddling with time travel - but none about the consequences for Luna's soul. She didn't sleep that night, she just stared at the ceiling, her round eyes strained on the mold stains.

* * *

><p>When she descended the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast, the following morning, everyone was exceptionally warm with her and interested in what she would have to say. She said nothing. She nodded numbly as Harry requested to speak with her, as she stuffed down the last mouthful of her pancakes. As she exited the room with the Gryffindor, she felt Ron Weasley giving her a slap in the back with an appreciative smile.<p>

"Thanks for doing this, Loony… er, I mean, Luna."

She said nothing as Harry explained her in the privacy of his room that no matter how she did it - with a knife, with a spell, with poison - in any case, it had to be done. It was for the greater good, for everyone's happiness. _What about my happiness? Do you think I could ever be happy if I did this? _After the job had been done, she could naturally come back to them and lead a normal life. _A normal life with a death on my conscience?_ She could ask him anything about the Dark Lord's life, if she wanted. If it could help her finish the mission.

"So, do you agree? You're the only one who can ; it would look suspicious for another transfer student to pop out."

_No, I can't do this._

His expectant eyes were staring hard at her. _Maybe if I do this, my friends will finally look at me and_ see_ me. _She merely nodded, feeling her shoulders slump almost unnoticeable and Harry gave her a small knowing smile. Her fate was sealed.

* * *

><p>She was ready. Ginny was with her, everyone else being too busy to see her off on this potentially life-threatening mission or just felt too awkward around her. She hugged her goodbye, feeling like she was also hugging <em>herself<em> goodbye, but didn't shed a tear. Someone knocked.

"Professor Snape!" exclaimed Luna, stunned. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I didn't come here to see you off, Miss Lovegood. I came here to make sure you knew what you were getting into," retorted Snape coldly. "You do realise that you are being shipped off on a mission to kill the Dark Lord?"

Luna winced, stung by his words. She'd rather not think about it too much.

"I know," she answered softly, her head down.

"You are not fit for such a mission. You are simply not fit for murder, Miss Lovegood. No one should ever have to do such a thing, especially not you."

He had said the last sentence almost wistfully, as if he was also speaking a bit for himself. His eyes were even darker than usual, burning with memories and longing. She took his cold hand and squeezed it. Her former Potions Master jerked it almost right away, but she smiled at him anyway.

"I always wanted to do something great. Something important. Maybe I am supposed to do this."

She was mostly trying to convince herself of it.

"Anyway, Professor, thank you. I hope I will see you again one day, after all this. You don't have to be so cold all the time, you know," she also added with a serious frown.

She chanted the spell over his annoyed protests and stepped in the portal after a last look at her present - or was it her future? She took in Severus Snape's sombre face, Ginny's deathly pale face and underweight frame : aftermath of the war, like so many other things. She thought about her father for a second, but stepped into the portal to forget about it right away. The dice was cast.


	8. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the insanely long wait but here's a very long chapter to compensate and apologise! I tried to make a special effort on the writing style ; I hope it shows improvement and that you will like it! I had an especially hard time with it because I wrote it without my English-French dictionary but I'm starting to think it is for the best an that I should keep on writing like that for now on, for it may be more natural. Thanks for all the reviewers, the people who added my story in their Favorites or in their Alerts, you rock my world! Cheers.**

**Chapter 8 : Down the rabbit hole**

Most people shrugged off the news of Luna Lovegood's unexpected return to Hogwarts, far more interested in the magically appearing food on their plates. Some people raised eyebrows and murmured the most ridiculous theories about her sudden departure and even more surprising reappearance, but after a few days, everyone had let it go.

Except for Tom Riddle.

When Dumbledore announced her return at breakfast, before the old fool pronounced her name, before Tom even saw her face, he immediately recognised her petite and skinny frame and the crown of tangled golden hair reflecting the light of the floating candles. He exhaled sharply and Luna seemed to feel his piercing stare down her neck. She glanced around the Great Hall curiously, a small distant smile playing on her lips, vaguely scanning the faces of the students without really stopping at any particular one. She had woven little white daisies in her hair, the white intertwined with blond, and Tom furtively imagined himself nuzzling her head, inhaling nature and pureness and innocence. She had gotten mud all over her shoes up to her grey knee high socks and the caretaker was glaring at her, mumbling about the floors into his beard. He thought briefly about the time when she had fallen down in the mud in her nightgown, looking up to him with those huge eyes of hers, pools of clear water that had looked so harmless, no one would think that they hid so many secrets. He had laughed at the mere sight of her, that day – Merlin knew why, it had bubbled out of him involuntarily and few things happened _involuntarily_ to Tom Riddle. He made very sure of that. The sole memory made him feel strangely mirthful, so he brought his attention back to the present.

Dumbledore held Luna by the shoulder, giving her a affectionate squeeze as he announced her return and Tom felt a pang of anger as he watched her so friendly with Dumbledore when she barely knew him, whereas he had be unable to achieve any progress in gaining the damned professor's trust in six years.

As soon as every student started going back to their common rooms, Tom Riddle motioned to Abraxas Malfoy to go on and not to wait for him. He elbowed his way through the crowd of first years, controlling the impatience out of his face. The professors were still at their table, Dumbledore in deep conversation with Slughorn while Dippet was busy telling a story to the Defence Against the Arts professor who did his best to stifle his yawns.

Tom Riddle approached Dumbledore and pointedly cleared his throat.

"Yes, Mr Riddle, can we help you?" asked the professor.

Tom Riddle was once again reminded sharply of the contrast in tone, attitude and expression when he was addressing Tom compared to when he was talking to any other student. _Remind me never to seek the old fool's help. Not worth it. _He smoothed his expression down, erasing it of hatred and contempt and frustration and composed a contrite smile on his face.

"Yes, sir. Sorry to disturb you, sir. I was wondering about what you said at dinner, sir - about Luna Lovegood. She can't have been _lost in the Forbidden Forest_ all this time. You remember quite well what happened that night. "

He had forced the last sentence out of his mouth, reluctant to bring up this particular moment again. Tom Riddle had barged in Dumbledore's office – not by choice, of course, but because it was the closest office he could rush to at the moment – even paler than usual, his hair dishevelled from running his hand through it and had started narrating her disappearance to the professor, probably sounding like a madman. Recollecting the scene, Tom felt a pang of embarrassment and hid his clenched fists behind his back. Folly, he should have kept it for himself, he realised it now. Luna Lovegood, the sweet and smiling enigma, her dark secrets – they were all his to crack, and no one else's.

"Indeed, Tom," replied Dumbledore, his eyes dancing with amusement, no doubt remembering as well, "I remember. Miss Lovegood was lost in the Forbidden Forest, as I said earlier Merlin knows how many times I've warned careless Hogwarts students against wandering there on their own."

"Sir, when she vanished, she was with me. She had Disapparated"

"Now, now, Tom," interrupted Slughorn with a condescending smile, "you very well know that one can't Apparate or Disapparate in Hogwarts!"

"_Exactly_ , sir."

Dumbledore and Slughorn exchanged an eloquent glance and burst out in laughter.

"That is what Miss Lovegood told me and it is sufficient for me, as it should be for you. Have a good night, Tom."

Tom felt himself seethe with anger for a heartbeat but forced himself into calm almost instantly. The snake would strike deadly one day ; for now he would coil around himself and feign amity and somnolence. He nodded without looking at any of his professors and made his way to the common room, his hand clenching and unclenching itself in his pocket around his wand in a nervous spasm, the only sign of his ire.

Tom Riddle had let Luna Lovegood slip through his fingers once, and he wasn't going to let it happen twice.

* * *

><p>Luna Lovegood was ignored by pretty much everyone in the Ravenclaw common room when she came back from the supper where professor Dumbledore had announced her miraculous return. But shunning her did not stop students from talking <em>about<em> her.

"Loony Lovegood must really be a nitwit to get lost _two months_ in the Forbidden Forest," she heard a fourth year girl mutter in a low voice, but loud enough for everyone in the often silent and studious common room. "And couldn't she have at _least_ washed up before dinner? How did she even get into Ravenclaw?"

She paid little heed to the words, used to it as she was, but noticed almost fondly that her nickname had managed to travel through time with her. However, the comment hadn't escaped Myra nor Lindsay. The latter flashed a worried glance at Luna and made a comment about how pretty the daisies in her hair looked in a unusually shrill and shaky voice.

"Funny you should say this, Marine," interrupted Myra loudly. "Many in our house had the very same question in mind about you when you remained stuck for four hours in front of the common room door because you couldn't answer its riddle."

Marine's face turned a dark shade of purple and the young girl stormed off to her dormitory. Myra's really pretty, she mused suddenly, taking in the young girl's tall and slender frame, her vibrant and sleek red hair and the bright green eyes. Luna had rarely seen Myra with such a disdainful and regal countenance, and she could see now why people often hushed and paid her special attention when she spoke. She had a commanding and intimidating beauty. Myra put her pale arm around Luna's shoulders and urged on forward.

"Let's go to bed.."

"I'm sorry, I can't. I have to see professor Dumbledore about my schedule to allow me to catch up," she said, shaking a note she had been slipped by the caretaker during dinner.

* * *

><p>Luna didn't really have to catch up the two months she had missed because she hadn't concentrated enough on the date during the spell casting ; but she couldn't remember which month she had left after everything that had happened. She had already graduated from Hogwarts and she already knew most of what they were teaching, therefore when she knocked at Dumbledore's office door, she knew it wouldn't simply be a talk about the syllabus.<p>

"Come in, please."

She entered his office. She noticed with pleasure that it was just as full of strange objects as the last time she'd been here. _My_ _office will look like that, one day_, she daydreamed.

"Ah. Yes, Miss Lovegood. I was quite surprised to see you leave so suddenly, but not as surprised as I was when you came back. May I ask what is the reason for your presence this time?"

"I've been entrusted with a... mission, sir," she replied carefully, staring intently at her knees.

Dumbledore remained silent so Luna helped herself to a lemon sherbet. She had never minded silence.

"Last time we had a discussion, I recall telling you that time must not be meddled with," he finally said gravely. "No, no – don't tell me anything," he cut her as she opened her mouth to explain herself. "I do not know the future nor what could justify anyone entrusting you with such an undertaking and nor do I want to know. I hope you are sure of what you're doing, Miss Lovegood, and I hope the person who put this burden on you is aware of its gravity. I will not stop you – I've known you for a few months, now, and I can vouch for your good nature – however others will see you as a menace and won't have any qualms with stopping you, whatever the cost."

Luna swallowed with difficulty, her shoulders slumping. _It's for Harry, and Ginny, and Dad, and Ron, and Hermione, and everyone, _she reminded herself, trying to draw some courage out of the mantra. Dumbledore sighed and two steaming mugs of tea and some chocolate magically appeared.

"Help yourself," he said softly.

As Luna seized her mug and let a square of the chocolate melt for a second in the hot beverage, just like she used to when she had tea with her mum. She felt like a tiny little girl all over again. Lost in time, trying to fill in the shoes three sizes too big of a saviour of the world. She was no Harry Potter. She was Loony Lovegood and she resented killing a mere fly ; how could she kill a sixteen year old boy who was to be the most evil Dark Lord of all time? It was the first time since she had come back that she had allowed herself to think about this and it would be so easy to let herself forget and live the rest of her life in blissful ignorance... but it was too late, wasn't it?

"Miss Lovegood?"

She raised her huge unblinking grey eyes to her former Headmaster, the silent question clear in her pupils - "_what am I supposed to do, now?"_ - but her lips were sealed. Dumbledore looks at her, looking older than she thought he looked before and interlaced his long fingers together.

" If you ever feel the need to talk about your mission – and I _beg_ of you, please don't tell me too much, I trust your judgement on this - come to my office. I fear too many responsibilities are given to people far too young, these days. Apparently it doesn't change for the better in the future," he added as an afterthought with a sad little smile.

"Thank you, professor. I will," she replied, feeling a little better than before.

At least, she wouldn't be completely alone. She sipped her tea and felt a little warmer.

"However, allow me to remind you of the consequences of a lengthy stay in an era where you don't belong, Miss Lovegood. You will one way or another lose all memory of your other life in the future – or shall I say your present? - bit by bit. I think it would be a safe measure to start writing down the most important details of your mission but I would advise against putting down important historical events," he explained her with his piercing X-ray stare.

She did not flinch nor blink. The faces of the people who knew her, the real Luna Lovegood without the secrets, without the odd disappearance and not the transfer Beauxbâtons student who was supposed to murder someone, swirled in her mind.

"I've never been that good in history, anyway," she confessed with a little smile.

Dumbledore chuckled. _I don't want to forget._

"I've never been that good in history either, to be honest. Thank Merlin for all the books in our library that allowed me to recheck facts so many times."

She heard distantly Dumbledore chattering about his brother Aberforth, who, in spite of his being illiterate, had quite a smashing talent in history but she simply finished her cup of tea before excusing herself politely. She had to write. She closed the door of his office as quietly as possible and started running. Time is fleeting and her memories would start to fade soon enough.

She ran towards the Common Room, and it felt exhilarating and liberating. She put all her energy in it and she closed her eyes, wishing she was outside and feeling the damp grass between her toes. Her reverie came to an abrupt halt when she knocked against someone so hard she fell to the floor like a doll. It could have hurt more, she decided as she opened her eyes and got on her feet, rubbing her back.

She was standing face to face with Tom Riddle and he was still so handsome it was distracting – but she couldn't afford to be distracted by now. She wanted to reach out and push dark stray curls out of his eyes when what she should do was put her hands around his slender neck and squeeze. She startled away from him.

"Well, well, if it isn't Miss Lovegood," he said, his voice pure velvet and innocent of intent but the smile stretching his lips as predatory as a cat's. "It is past curfew."

"I was in Dumbledore's office, I am going to my dormitory now," she retorted, trying to smile as well.

The young girl furtively noticed he was twirling his wand between his fingers. She tried to ignore the sense of foreboding and the instinct that she should run again, but from him this time. She was facing a young Lord Voldemort and she was supposed to kill him but she only wanted to escape.

"I won't let you go this time, Lovegood," the head boy murmured as if reading her thoughts and she believed him because there was poisonous obsession close to madness burning bright in his eyes as he crept closer from her and she felt herself backing away.

"I can feel you hide something of value. And I'm not talking about your little vanishing trick. _I was lost in the Forbidden Forest_. You and I both know that is not the case, don't we, _Luna_?" he purred, a saccharine smile on his lips but his eyes hungry for blood.

She felt her back hit the wall. They were on a dark hallway and she had backed into an alcove. She felt a cold shudder ran down her spine. This was bad.

"I, uh," she started, nervously licking her lips.

" You're no more French than I am. Beauxbâtons, huh?" he chuckled mirthlessly. "You're the worst liar I have ever seen. But I can feel there is something special about you. I can feel your _secrets_," he whispered, savouring the word like honey on his tongue.

He had reduced the distance between them to an inch. She had to crane her neck to look at him, now. This was very bad.

"And no pleasure will be greater than mine once I've cracked -"

He took her small hand in his cold ones,

"- every -"

and started prying her fingers open

" - single one of -"

one by one.

" - your secrets."

She stared stupidly at the empty palm of her hand, where her wand should have been. He raised sharply her chin up to his face with his long pale fingers. Her eyes were as big as saucers, and she couldn't blink or breathe or push him away. _This is the snake's venom_, she thought. _Or Medusa's Eyes_, she mused curiously. Her father had come across this powerful magical artefact that allowed its user to paralyse anyone so long they looked at him in the eye in the Muggle black market, but it had been mislabelled as "grey contact lenses" - silly!

"You are mine to play with, now, Luna," he murmured against her ear, warm breath tinkling her skin.

And in a swirl of his robes, he was gone in the shadows of the hallway, his footsteps echoing in the dark. She felt herself sliding against the floor, hugging herself and shivering as if she had a fever.


End file.
